Chapter 20 Part 2

"Dylan."

Dylan opened his eyes. It was daylight again. "Come on, kid," Rathe urged. "It's time to go."

Gage and Coran were talking. "I would figure about fifteen to sixteen hours of night. I can not be sure, though."

"How much longer would your spell have held?"

"Oh it would have held much longer, so we are in good shape," Gage answered his brother's question. "That particular spell is controlled by time instead of concentration. It is much stronger than the other spell and will last a very long time. The drawback is that it takes a lot of power to cast and protects one area and can not move. The thought controlled version is not as strong, easier to cast and is centered on me and goes wherever I go."

Since they had not set up a real camp, the ground being too unsteady and rocky for tents and no place to put a fire, they were back on the march in a matter of minutes. It took a little time for Dylan to work the kinks out of his left foot which had fallen asleep and was cramped up.

Dylan walked along and was in mid yawn when he felt himself being yanked from behind. When he regained his balance and ended his yawn, Rathe leaned close and whispered for him to mind his step. The Minotaan pointed at a pool of yellowish liquid that very closely matched the color of the ground.

A few moments later, Crystal came to a stop. "I'm not sure what that is," she warned Gage. Dylan was close enough to hear what she was saying, even though he could not see what she was talking about.

"We will not take any chances," Gage decided. "I hate to use the shielding spell out in the open like this, but in this realm it is best to take nothing for granted, and there is no way we will be able to outrun it."

"Everyone follow Crystal," Gage called out urgently. As he half turned, Dylan could see past his mentor and spied what appeared to be a large billowing brown cloud drifting towards them in the rust tinted sky.

"What is it?" Rathe asked.

"Some kind of strange weather," Crystal answered as she turned aside and scrambled towards a rock grouping. "And in Nessus, it's a good bet that we won't be seeing your normal rain."

When they got to the rocks, Crystal directed everyone to gather close near the rocks. The rocks would act partly as shelter. Gage then erected a magic field to protect them against some of the other possible dangers.

They watched with growing dread as the brown storm cloud drew nearer, green bolts of fire streaking across the sky and to the ground. Thunder could be heard as the cloud drew near, but it was oddly subdued. A warm, breeze washed over them, a welcome change from what had been a very cold night before, but the smell on the breeze was a sickly sweet smell that reminded Dylan of root cellar filled with ice and meat. It brought back memories of his childhood on the plantation. He had occasionally seen livestock butchered and stored in the underground cellar. It was a smell very similar.

The front edge of the cloud passed over and something warm and red hit Dylan on the hand. He looked and saw that his hand was covered in blood. Another drop and another bloody mess appeared on his arm.

Gage quickly chanted and incantation to change his shielding spell somewhat and the rain stopped hitting them. The drops splattered as if they had hit a glass ceiling, spreading red gore all around them.

"I never would have guessed it would rain blood on us," Rathe inspected the palm of one hand. It was crimson in color as was a patch on his cheek where he had been hit with another drop of the foul rain.

Gage passed a water skin and urged them to wash any of the blood off them. They did as he asked and then they all sat around waiting for the strange storm to pass.

"At least no one's going to be flying about in this weather," Coran observed with false bravado.

They were there for almost three hours waiting for the pouring bloody rain to pass. By sheer luck, just as the rain ended, another wave of flames washed through the area, vaporizing the blood from the bare stone. Some puddles of red still remained, but they stood out from the ground fairly well and could be easily avoided.

When at last Gage dropped his protective shield, they were struck with the reek of rotting meat and sweltering heat. In less than a few breaths, Dylan fell to his knees and emptied his stomach. He was only marginally happy to hear someone else retching too. At least he was not the only one.

Dylan was so busy trying to evict his stomach from his body in dry heaves, that he really did not notice that someone had smeared something across the skin under his nose. It had a piercing strong odor, that would normally be unpleasant, but by comparison to the stench of the rotted blood, Dylan was glad of it. As he caught his breath and was able to stand again, he saw Crystal putting the lid back on a small ointment jar. He looked at his companions and almost laughed at the comical appearances as each and every one of them was sporting what looked like a white mustache.

The journey resumed and it was while walking for what must have been at least six more hours that Dylan's stomach growled loudly enough that everyone heard. Embarrassed, the apprentice coughed in an attempt to cover the sound. In truth, he was famished but did not want to complain. No one else was.

Fortunately, the sound set off similar sounds from those around him. Rathe, being much larger and needing more energy on a daily basis, was apparently not too proud to ask the question most of them were thinking.

"Not meaning to be a fuss, but does anyone want to decide on when we get to stop for a rest and eat?"

Coran paused and stretched his arms out with a light yawn. "I really wanted to keep going as long as there's daylight, but I suppose it'd be better if we stopped and ate while we could still see the food."

Crystal selected a spot off the ridge line, amidst a cluster of rocks to hide them as much as possible. They sat in the crevasse and unpacked dry rations of jerked and salted meat, corn pones and water. It was not what one might want if one had a choice, but on the trail it was as good as any hot meal served in any tavern. Still, the rancid smell of the decaying blood puddles made it difficult to eat.

"Any idea how much longer until dark?" Coran asked.

"A few hours to be sure," Gage answered. "It is certainly more difficult to tell the time without a sun to go by.

Dylan leaned back against a stone trying to get as much rest before they had to go again. His feet ached terribly and he suspected that if he took his shoes off, his feet would swell and he would not be able to get them back on again. It was listening to Gage talk about the sun which first prompted Dylan to look at the sky. Rolling clouds of purple and red seemed to swirl together and yet did not mix. The scholar within him immediately recalled lessons about some things such as oil and water that did not mix, and he pondered deeper into the question before it dawned on him that he was seeing something else as well.

"Master," Dylan warned as he realized that he was seeing a living creature flying through the air, "something is flying this way."

"Everyone hide," Gage snapped. Coran and Rathe pulled a grey blanket from one pack and spread it across them. The idea was that the blanket was a similar color as the rocks. It was not exact, but it was pretty close.

"He's not looking for anything," Crystal observed. "And there are three more coming this way too. They seem to be in a hurry."

About that time, there was a low rumbling that came from the direction that the devils were flying. Then a multitude of thumping sounds could be heard behind them. Peeking from beneath the canopy, they saw literally hundreds of devils running past their place of concealment.

They quietly waited for what must have been an hour when the last of the minor devils scampered past. No one spoke for many long moments. "It's just a guess," Rathe chortled softly, "but I'd say that whatever diversion your father and his friends were planning, it seems to have certainly gotten someone's attention."

"Perhaps," Gage muttered with a sense of irritation, "but they were supposed to do it far enough away that we would not encounter things like this."

"I wonder how far away they are?" Crystal added. "I mean we all heard that rumble, but that could have been anything or anyone."

"Who knows?" Gage admitted. He began gathering the cover so that it could be repacked. "We can talk about it tonight. And that may not be far away. Let us get as much distance as we can before then."

Coran and Crystal led the way. Rathe and Gage brought up the rear, making repeated checks behind them for another army of devils to run by.

It was not much longer before Coran pointed off to one side of the ridge at what appeared to be a recess in the rock. "That would be a perfect place to camp for the night," he offered. "It's sheltered and defensible."

"Might as well," Gage agreed reluctantly. It was plain that he wanted to keep going as much as possible, but secrecy was more important than speed at the moment.


They climbed down to the recessed rocks and unloaded their packs. When in the shallow cave, they could easily see out across the horizon, but only a creature standing in front of the entrance would be able to see them.

Rathe used the large blanket to create a lighting shield and they were able to build a fire with the aide of some magic, an oil flask and wick. It was not a fire that would warm them, but it would allow them to cook small things one at a time. Crystal cooked sausages and with a warm meal in his belly, Dylan quickly fell asleep.

Just as before, Dylan really had no idea how long he had been asleep when he woke, well rested. He stood and stretched. The lamp was still lighted, but there was a lot less oil in the flask. He noted that Rathe was not in the cave. Dylan pulled the blanket aside and caught site of Rathe in the light.

"Close the blanket," Rathe urged. "We don't want anyone to see the light."

Dylan stepped forward and let the blanket close behind him. He could still see a small amount of glow near the edges of the covering, but it was not enough that it could be seen from more than a few dozen paces away. "Are you on watch?" he asked Rathe.

"Yes. I've been at it for a while, but I'm not tired."

"Have any more of the devils gone by?"

"I think so. I hear movement on the ridge and an occasional flapping of wings every now and then. Whatever Armegon and Ultrecht are doing, they certainly have the attention of the beasts."

"Any more thunder?"

"Yes," Rathe chuckled, "and lightning too."

"What do you mean?" Dylan asked, and no sooner were the words out of his mouth than the horizon flared brilliantly as if the sun were rising. The whole of the sky was lighted as if it were midday.

"That would be Armegon again," Rathe posed.

"That was Armegon?!"

"Armegon likes big explosions," Rathe explained. "Avery says that Armegon is trying to compensate for something, but I don't really understand what he means by that. I don't think anyone does, except Ultrecht and Armegon. Ultrecht keeps laughing about it though, so it must be funny."

The flare of light faded, and the ground rumbled slightly. It was soon followed by a roll of thunder and finally a strong breeze.

"I've never even read about a spell that can do anything like that. How far away was it?"

"Gage says that it's about fifty miles or more. It's actually much brighter and violent. We can't see it directly because of the canyon wall on the other side of the river. That's the fourth one tonight though, so whatever they're doing, they don't seem to be holding back.

"When did Master Gage go to sleep?" Dylan asked.

"Not long after you did," Rathe told him. The big Monotaan placed a skillet sized hand on the boy's shoulder. "Your master is very fond of you, you know. He may scold you on occasion, but when you are asleep, he has nothing but praise for you. He is convinced that you are going to pass on to journeyman long before anyone else your age."

"I want to please him." Dylan stated sincerely. "I feel so bad when he gets annoyed with me."

"Don't let it worry you too much," Rathe suggested. "Gage was a boy once too. He and Coran got into a lot more trouble than you could ever imagine. So Gage isn't going to turn you into a toad or anything. He might threaten to do it, but he won't."

A streak of light shot from the horizon into the sky. "Don't look at it," Rathe urged quickly and stood in front of Dylan with his back to the light.

This time the flash of light was so bright that Dylan had to shield his eyes. He imagined he could feel heat from the brilliant blue light. The light lingered for long moments. Eventually Rathe stepped aside and Dylan could see a great glowing circle in the sky. It slowly expanded and faded, but for almost ten minutes, it was light enough outside that Dylan could see dozens of flying devils armed with all manner of weapons, all speeding towards the light.

"That one was Ultrecht."

"I wonder what kind of spell that was?"

"I don't know," Rathe confessed. "I'm not to up on the magical stuff. I think it was one of the spells that they call a Siege-Spell."

"I've never heard of that spell," Dylan stated flatly. "But I sure want to learn about it."

"Just remember what you saw," Rathe warned. "Those spells have a lot of power."

"I really didn't see anything," Dylan reminded his companion. "You were in the way."

"Well, from what Gage told me," Rathe explained, "if you look directly at the source of the light when if first appears, it will make you go blind. I think there is a curse involved or something."

There was some sounds behind them and the curtain opened briefly. Though he could only see a silhouette, Dylan instantly knew his master had arrived.

"Did you get plenty of sleep Dylan?" Gage asked.

"Yes sir. I've only been awake for a short while."

"He's been watching the fireworks with me," Rathe added. "The young fellow hasn't been any trouble."

"The ground shook sharply and overhead clouds arced with dozens of bolts of lighting. In the light of the lightning, a squall line of turbulent weather could be seen converging on the far away battle.

"It would seem that even father is not above showing some muscle," Gage posed. He noted Dylan gazing at the storm with wonder. It was interesting to be sure, but he did not want his ward getting too interested in spells of such magnitude. The boy was human and would most likely never live long enough to wield that kind of power. Even Ultrecht needed the help of immortality to amass the power he possessed.

"Dylan, the lamp is still lighted, and we are not even half way through the night. If you are not sleepy, I suggest you take the time to do some lessons. If you work hard, I will show you a new spell soon.

Dylan sighed. He knew his master's voice and there was no bargaining to be done. With some level of disappointment, he went back behind the curtain and sat next to the lamp. Some corn pones had been laid out and he took a few moments to warm one of them up. Then he ate quietly and washed the food down with water before digging his books out of his pack.